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DKLIVEKED BT 



HON. JOHN P. BLAIR 



(PRESIDENT JL'DGE lyDlASX DISTRICT) 





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DEGLARATIOX OF AMERICAN INDEfENDENCE 



CITY OF ALTOONA, PA. 



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WITH AX APPENDIX EMBRACING 



Program nie of Exercises, Prayer by Rev. J. Curns, and 
A Brief Historical Sketch. 



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1876 : 
Evening Mirror Printing House, 

ALTOONA, Pa. 



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DELIVERED BY 



HON. JOHN P. BLAIR 

(PRESIDEXr JUDttE INDIANA DISTRICT) 




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DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 



CITY OF ALTOONA, PA. 



J'TJUiir -4:, IS^B 



WITH AN APPENDX EMBRACING 




_WASH\ 

Programme of Exercises, Prayer by Rev. J. Curns, and 
A Brief Historical Sketch. 



1876: 

EvtNiN(; Mirror Printing Hocse, 

Altuona, Fa. 



3 



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since the receipt of yqur invitation in the discharge of other duties, 
from which there is no exemption, if I fail to say anything worthy 
of rememlmince, I shall know, at least, that my heart responds with 
yours to all the patriotic suggestions and emotions incident to the 
occasion. 

As we naturally pause at this time to consider the great changes, 
that have taken place in the physical condition of the countr^^ — your 
own city may be taken as an illustration, and not an inadequate one 
— of our material progress. It was only laid out, 1 believe, in 1849. 



^ 



3 



^ 



CENTENNIAL ORATION. 



Mr. President, Ladtes and Gentlemen : The scene presented 
in Altoona to-day is impressive. When I accepted the invitation 
of your committee to come here and address you, I did not antici- 
pate a demonstration lilve this. I remembered, indeed, that it was 
the Centennial year, and that the Fourth of July would be greeted 
and celebrated throughout the country with unaccustomed manifes- 
tations of reverence and joy — and I supposed that, in this respect, 
?/oz^r commemorative services would not be exceptional. But the 
extensive and elaborate preparations — the long and attractive pro- 
cession, representing various arts and industries, events and per- 
sonages, familiar in our liistorj^ — the handsome and almost universal 
decoration of streets and houses — and the hosts of peoi)le assembled 
before me — present a scene far surpassing my expectations. Out- 
side nf Philadelphia, 1 have doubt whether a more interesting and 
imposing spectacle will be witnessed in the State. It reflects credit 
and honor on the spirit, enterprise and patriotism of 30ur count}'^ 
and your young city. Almost constantly engaged as I have been 
since the receipt of yqur invitation in the discharge of other duties, 
from which there is no exemption, if I fail to say anything worthy 
of rememljrance, I shall know, at least, that my heart responds with 
yours to all the patriotic suggestions and emotions incident to the 
occasion. 

As we naturally pause at this time to consider the great changes, 
that have taken place in the physical condition of the country — your 
own city may be taken as an illustration, and not an inadequate one 
— of our material progress. It was (^nly laid out, I believe, in 1849. 



Since tliat time tlie population has reached about sixteen tliousand. 
The general improvement has been great. Your special manufac- 
tures are of the lirst magnitude. I do not, at present, recall an in- 
stance, in this State, where a city of so much importance has sprung 
up with so much rapidity. It is only, however, a single manifesta- 
tion of that general spirit of improvement and progress that has 
characterized the centur}^ and that has had its finest and fullest 
development in the last sixty or seventy years. From thirteen 
colonies, at the commencement, sparsel}' populated and separated 
by denser forsels, we have grown into a great nation, composed of 
thirt^'-seven States and eleven territories, two of the latter, Colorado 
and New Mexico, now asking admission into the Union — and all of 
them organized under territorial governments except Alaska and 
the Indian territory. With a population something less than three 
millions, at the beginning, it is probabh^ fortv-five millions to-da3\ 
Some of these States, not then known, and not organized into States 
for manv years afterwards, have now a single population greater 
than all tlie original colonies combined. Cities and towns innumer- 
able have sprung up in places where, a few years before, there was 
no sign of human habitation. By means of our lakes and noble 
rivers, our canals, and a net-work of railroads and telegraphs, the 
inhabitants of all portions of this vast expanse of territory are 
brought into easy and familiar intercouise. Our agricultural and 
mineral jntcrests have swelled into vast proportions. The S|)irit of 
invention in the mechanical arts and appliances for lightening hu- 
man labor, and increasing human comfort and liberty and hap- 
piness has been intensified and pushed forward to extraordinary 
success. Meanwhile, the charitable, educational and moi'al interests 
of the country have not been neglected. 'IMiey have kept i)ace with 
the march of material prosperity, and \\'heiever that prosperity has 
been most substantial, there the institutions that nurture and guard 
these important interests will be found in the highest condition of 
usefulness, alleviating human ])ain, sufl'ering and want, and 
through the instrumentality of colleges and seminaries, academies 
and normal schools, and common schools and churches, bringing 
the blessings of education and moral culture within the reach of all, 
even to the poorest and most humble family. We might resort to 
statistics for the pur[)ose ot showivg the unexamj)led progress we 
iiave made in the departments to which I have alluded. IJut while 



that might be desirable and satislactory to an audience composed 
of foreigners, and not acquainted with our historj^, it is entirely un- 
necessary in an assembl}' of Americans. The proofs are largely- 
within our own vision, and within our own consciousness. Cast 
our eyes which way we may over the face of this fair land and the 
evidence meets our gaze at every turn, and the thought that swells 
up in our minds and hearts to-da}' and speaks out from every face 
is, that all the blessings that have crowned the first century- of our 
national existence are mainly due to those noble institutions of 
government planted here by our political forefathers, whose great 
work we now commemorate. 

What were the}' ? What were the principles that produced such 
splendid results ? Tlie government of the people, for the people 
and bj' the people. Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, free- 
dom of press. The inalienable right to life, liberty', and the pursuit 
of happiness. Equality in the sight of the law. The principle that 
lifts away the weight with which so many other governments burth- 
tn the industries and energies of their people, and gives to each and 
all the citizens of this free country a fair start and an equal chance 
in the career of usefulness and distinction. Tiiese were the founda- 
tions on which tlie superstructure was built. It was the first experi- 
ment of the kind that had ever been faiily attempted in the history 
of the world. If we are surprised at our own progress, other na- 
tions are astonished at the tremendous strides we have made under 
the impulses of this young and vigorous civilization. The secret of 
it all is the simple principle of trusting a free people with the whole 
power, and holding out to them every incentive to industrj' and 
advancement. If vve have inauo-urated a marvelous career of general 
prosperit}' in this western world, it is raainl}- because human activi- 
ties and energits have been quickened and i^timvlafed under a 
sNstem of government which, combining the highest degree of lib- 
erty consistent with necessar}- and salutarj' legal restraint, has 
opened up the pathway of honor and advancement — not to a few, not 
to an}' privileged classes — but to all men alike. It is a sjstem that 
recognizes the capacity of mankind to govern tiiemselves, and is 
therefore based on the dignit}- of human nature. Wise and equal 
and just in the theor}' on which it is formed, it has been eminently 
successful and trium pliant in its practical operations. Within a 
comparatively brief period of time a continent has been transfoimed 



from a wilderness into the most powerful nation on the globe, and 
during the whole of this rapid and wonderful process liberty has 
been the dailj' inspiration of the people. 

It would be taking, we think, too narrow a view of the subject 
if we estimated the superior excellence of our institutions only b}' 
the results produced within our own borders, surprising as those 
results have been. We can form some adequate conception of what 
has been accomplished •for ourselves under the beneficent sway of 
free government, but who can tell the effects produced upon other 
nations, or on mankind at laroe ; who can measure the far-reaching 
influences of a grand example ? — influences all the more powerful, be- 
cause operating, like the sun, quietl}' ! Our ships have traveled to 
every clime, and wherever they have gone, they carried the spirit of 
our institutions with them. At an early day, we extended an invi- 
tation to the people of other nations to come here and settle our 
vast public domain on terms of eas}' citizenship. 'I'he^^ came in 
throngs from the German States and from Ireland, large numbers 
from Scotland, Wales and England, from France, Italy, Norway 
and Sweden. Under all this tide of immigration, we have, never- 
theless, preserved a distinct, and well marked American National- 
ity. This mixed popjilation from Europe assimilates itself more 
and more with the spirit and meaning of our institutions, and is 
gradually absorbed in the predominating American element, an eh'- 
ment that will always become, from necessity, more and more pre- 
dominating and over-ruling with tlie lapse of time. These people, 
from foreign shores, have reflected back in many silent but potent 
forms tiie spirit and virtues of Republican Government on the na- 
tions from w'hence they came. With tiie great fact of a splendid and 
successful example of self-government instituted here, who shall tell 
the happy impressions made on other lands, through the channels 
of an extended commerce, and by m-eans of the incorporation and 
absorption of a large and varied foreign population into our Ameri- 
can nationality ! A thousand influences, mild, healthful and strong, 
now, no doubt, radiated from our American system, and if many of 
the changes that have taken place in the policy of foreign govern- 
ments could be traced to their primal source, it would, probably.be 
found that they received their first impulse and impression here. 

We would not dispnrasje the claims of other nations to achieve- 
ments that have proved valuable and beneficial to their own people 



7 

or to mankind. We would not consciously foster a sentiment of 
overweaning national vanit}'. Periiaps our s^'stem of government 
is not entirely faultless or perfect. Nothing that is merely human 
can expect to be. Doubtless it is exposed to some dangers. And 
where is there a government that is not ? Human wisdom has 
failed to devise a better one. Who would be bold enough for the 
perilous undertaking of suggesting a substitute ? Upon what model 
drawn from ancient or moderm history would we fashion it? What 
fundamental featuie would he dare to strike out? How would he 
furnisii larger liberty to ihe people without the introduction of gen- 
eral lawlessness and licentiousness ? How would he confer more 
general and absolute power upon any department of the govern- 
ment, without endangering or abridging the liberties of the people ? 
The excellence and superiority of our system need no vindication. 
The best eulogy tliat can be bestowed upon it is a fair history of its 
work. When we look at (hat^ when we contemplate all that has 
been a'jcumpli>lH'd iu the past and the possibilities of attainment 
i'or the future, under the same generous and beneficent policy-, we 
instinctively A'f'/ that no such legacy has ever been bequeathed to 
the human race since the Apostle closed the volume of di\ine in- 
spiration on the Island of Patmos. 

We have been highh- favored, in the possession of a suitable law, 
for the trial of this grand expeiiment. We were fortunate in our 
geographical position. Bounded by the two great oceans, and with 
no formidable adjacent nations, the spirit of whose institutions was 
Jiostile to our own, to embarrass and molest us in the i)rosecution 
of the plan. If a similar experiment liad been started a century 
ago by any nation in Europe, proclaiming the political and legal 
equality of men, and asserting the rights of the people to govern 
themselves to the exclusion (»f Kings, and privileged hereditary 
classes, it would have been only an experiment — not a success. 
Such a government would have been a constant challenge to the 
monarchies and despotisms around it. If not crushed and obliter- 
ated by them, its substance would have been wasted and its liber- 
ties probably usurped bj' the large standing armies it would have 
been compelled to maintain in order to resist aggressions on its 
3'oung life. By some means or other it is likely its course would 
have been speedily extinguished. But across the sea was a conti- 
nent, secure from adjacent invasions, with a virgin soil and vast 



8 

primeval forests, studded with great lakes and intersected with 
maornificent rivers and with untold wealth buried beneath its sur- 
face, where there was no human sound, save the war whoop of the 
savage to break the awful stillness of nature, manifestly reserved by 
the Almight}^ for some wonderful display of his beneficence and 
power not yet vouchsafed to the world. What was it? What was 
the purpose ? If we are not fulfilling the grand design, how can we 
account for that tender and providential care that has manifestl}' 
followed the country during every stage of its known existence — 
from our birth as a nation, and long before it, u\) to the present 
hopeful and joyful period ? Trace the history of this country' from 
its discovery, through the period of the Collonial Settlements, and 
the war of the revolution, and that other period following the revo- 
lution in which the absolute necessity for a form of government dif- 
ferent from an}' that preceded it was cleail}' revealed, and who can 
resist the impression that "theie is a divinity that shapes our ends, 
rouorh hew them how we will?" Asa thou2;htful mind traces and 
ponders over the o})ening scenes and each separate act in this grand 
national drama, human agencies and energies, standing alone, seem 
weak, and we feel, at times, like stepping aside and waiting with 
hushed voice, "while God performs on the trembling stage of his 
own works his dreadful part alone." We have come out from the 
shadows ami darkness and may now read our hisloiy in the clear 
sunlight of a noonday revelation. 

We have arrived at a point in our national life where we can 
look backward for a hundred years over the past, and our hopes 
and imaginations and fond convictions may, if we choose, travel for- 
ward for a hundred years, or many, many hundreds into the future. 
The future must take care of itself. It will do so if it is worthy of 
the great trust committed to its keeping. The past, at least, is se- 
cure. We know what that has been. We appreciate the true signifi- 
cance of the International Exhibition that graces and honors the 
Centennial year and will reach its culminating glory in Philadel- 
phia to-day. We understand the meaning of the spirit and feeling 
that pervades tiie popular heart. The loud acclaim that bursts from 
city and hamlet, from mountain and plain, attests the love and de- 
votion of the American people foi" that system of government to 
which we are indebt.iwl for all that wo are and all that we may ever 
expect to become. 



9 

For a huiidied years we liave nuirked the annual recurrence of 
this da}' with unusual honors. It is. a legal holiday that no Ameri- 
can ever forgets, that he cannot forget, no matter where he may 
be, whether in his own country, or traveling on a foreign soil in the 
most remote and obscure places of the earth, and the further he may 
be from his native land the more profoundly will his heart be stir- 
red by its memories. We believe that it is better known and re- 
spected b}^ a larger portion of the peoi)le of the civilized earth than 
any other memorial day, not established b}^ divine wisdom. It is 
lortunate that we have a great national holiday like this, full of 
sacred and patriotic inspirations, in the presence of which the voice 
of mere partisanship is hushed. jS'earl}' all other nations have no 
birthday to celebrate. There is no specific date to mark the com- 
mencement of their existence. I'heir history- is, in general, one of 
successive invasions and destructions, and their origin, in some in- 
stances, rests onl}' in tradition, or is revealed in the twilight of fable. 
But the American nation which is peculiar in its institutions, and 
in the plan and theory of its government, is peculiar also in its ori- 
gin. It has a birthday. It sprang like an athlete into the arena 
of nations, not with a challenge of mere physical combat, but as 
the champion of the fundamental principles it asserted, the peace- 
ful development of which constitutes so bright a page in the world's 
history. Its origin is well marked and defined. While we have 
celebrated that origin annuall}' from the beginning, our interest in 
the great event, instead of diminishing, has increased, and we com- 
memorate it to-da}' witli a wealth and splendor of exhibition never 
witnessed before. We have not been selfish or exclusive in our 
demonstration. We have extended an invitation to other nations 
to come over and see what we have accomplished and to join with 
us as friendly competitors in the arts of peace. They have re- 
sponded to our invitation and the first Centennial of American In- 
dependence and popular government will now pass into history. We 
are gratified with the result and feel proud that the new era^ ush- 
ered on the world one hundred years ago, has been commemorated 
in a manner wortli}' of the occasion. 

Standing here to-day, at the close of the century', with all the 
achievements and glories of the republic around us, our hearts 
swell with uncommon emotions of gratitude and joy. But it is not 
to the close of the centur}'- alone, nor to the triumphs that have 



10 

marked its patliwa}', that the attention of the Amei-ican people will 
be directed to-da3\ Tiie beginning is the period that involuntarily 
rises to the view. We recall the scenes in which American liberty 
was created and secured. We recall the honored names inseparably 
linked with tlie great event — tiie conspicuous characters, military 
and civil, who performed distinguished services for their country. 
Washington, the world's greatest character, whose name is famiiinr 
Hs M household word, whose services as a statesman werct no less 
renowned than those of a f»oldier, vvh.) inspired universal conli- 
dence, and deserved the confi<h'nce he i))spiri'd, who seemed to be 
born, trained and fashioned for that particular exigency in .human 
afl'airs, and whose great name will endure so long as the purest 
patriotism or an}- sentiment of public or i)rivate virtue shall con- 
tinue to have admirers on the earth. There was Green, who, in liis 
prudence and firmness and devotion to the cause, seemed to come 
out next to Washington. (lates, Sullivan and Knox; Putman, Allen 
and Stork ; Montgomery, Marion and Sumpter, and many others 
whose names will readily I'ecur, who rendered gallant services on 
the battle field. Samuel Adams and John Adarns, whose legal minds 
had fathomed every phase of the question then pending between 
England and these States, and who advocated the cause of the col- 
onies with wonderful intrepidity and force. Warren, who gave 
promise of higii distinction in tiie national councils, l)ut whose 
young life went out so earlv in tlie sti'uggle. Jay, of Xew^ York, 
who became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Uni- 
ted States, conscientious, learned and solid, \Vhose lucid and poweiful 
pen was ever busy in the interest of his country, the author of that 
address to the people of Great Britain — one of those masterly papers 
issued b}' the Continental Congress, thj\t elicited tlie remarkable 
encomiums of Lord Chatham. Hut greater than Jay, and fiom the 
same State, was Hamilton, a profound lawyer of wonderful resources, 
whose mind seemed to giasp the fundamental princi|)les of his pro- 
fession as if by intuition, but wIjo was nevertheless distinguislied 
for patient and laborious study, as much as he was for his genius, 
under whose sway as Secretaiy of the Treasury, in the administra- 
tion of Washington, order and credit were evoked fiom eonfusion 
and bankruptcy' — a man who was so pure in his great office that 
'' his bosom would have glowed like a fuinaceat its own whisjiers of 
reproach," who retired from the department of the treasury poor, 



11 

and whose Hie was taken away, under the rulings of a remarkable 
code, before his work seemed to be finished. There was Henry, of 
Virginia, gifted by nature with uncommon endowments of eloquence 
and power, and whose spirit flamed with all the ardor of the revolu- 
tion. Lee, the graceful and cultivated orator, whose soul was filled 
with harmonies, firm and resolute for independence as Henry, his 
great comi)eer. The Randol|.hs, Edmund and Peyton, Madison 
and JefiVrson, to whom belongs the imperishable glory of the Decla- 
rati<»n of Jndepc ndenc*'. There ^vas Rntlego, and the Uiiicsiby.s, 
('otesworth and Charles, of South Carolina, and Godsden, of 
the same State — Christophei' Godsden — he who, so earl3^ in the 
contest, sent the message to the people of Buston telling them not 
to pay a shilling for " the damned tea," — an advice that was certainly 
very sound, even if it was not conveyed in the most reverened terms. 
And when we come to our own beloved colony, there was Robert 
Mfjrris, the Superintendent of Finance in the darkest hours of the 
revolution, whose great wisdom contributed to the foundation of the 
Constitution of the United States ; who pledged his own private 
fortune for the maintenance of the cause, during the sufi'erino-s of 
Yalley Forge — how I wish I could say that he had not been pei- 
mitted to die in a debtor's prison — a man of whom Chancellor Kent 
said that the American people could nevercease to cherish the most 
lively sentiments of admiration and gratitude for the accomplished 
statesman. There, too, was Franklin — the world recognizes that 
name — the Philoso|)her, Diplomatist, and Statesman, so great in all 
these departments that we know not in which to assign him pre-em- 
inence. We see him as he entered Philadelphia for the first time 
walking up Market street, with his pockets stuffed witli stockinos 
and shirts, eating his cakes as he walked, and stopping to divide 
them with a poor woman on the wa}. We are amused at the pe- 
culiarities of his courtship and the description he gives of his mar- 
riage, and all that ; but look at the name that poor American boy 
afterwards acquired. Look at his power — the estimate in which 
the world held him. No American, not Washington himself, com- 
manded equal respect and admiration in Europe, in the Courts of 
Spain and England, and especially' France, where his services were 
best known and appreciated. This country was not America, it 
was "the land of Franklin." And when in the fullness of his fame, 
after independence had been achieved and tlie Constitution of the 



12 

United States ratified and the old man, whose head was then frosted 
with the snows of more than eighty winters, was about to die, 
how our s^'mpathies are touched with the simplicity and patriotism 
of those memorable words to Washington : " For my own personal 
ease I should have died two years ago, but thouy^h those years have 
been spent in excruciating pain I am glad to have lived them, since 
I can look upon our i)resent situation." As our minds naturally 
travel backward to the beginning of the century and contemplate 
the scenes of those early days, how all these names, and many 
others we would be glad to mention and characterize, if time [)er- 
raitted, come thronging to the lips and claim the gratitude and 
homage that are due to great and [)atriotic deeds. But, in this 
Centennial ovation, these are not the only persons called to our re- 
membrance. The patriot soldiers who composed the rank and file 
of the Continental army and who were indisi)ensable to the success 
of the cause, will start up in the memory of the nation to-day and 
receive the tribute always awarded to gallant services in the field. 
The}' exhibited a courage, a spirit of self sacrifice and a firmness 
under adversity that won the applause of Europe, and were wortiiy 
of the great cause in which they were willing to surrender life. 
Their individual names may not indeed be emblazoned on the pages 
of histor}', but the great heart of the nation i)ulsates and throbs 
none the less warnd}- for them. The heroism of that liltle army 
that stood faithfully around their honored chieftain through triumph 
and disaster and privations of uncommon seveiity, will never be 
forgotten. It is the common heritage of the country and largely 
and indispensably contributed towards making this a memorable 
da}', for we are not assembled to celebrate any single act in our 
revolutionary or national history, but a series of events comprised 
within a period of thirteen years, beginning in 1T7G and ending in 
1T89, when the Colonies or States were formed into a Nation under 
the Constitution of the Union. It was natural and necessary to 
have some day to mark tiiis epoch in our history, and it so hai)- 
pened that the Fourth of July became the great day because it was 
then that the Continental Congress ad()i)ted the Declaration of In- 
dependence. John Adams thought that the Second of July would 
be the memorable day in histor}'. You rememi)er that early in the 
preceding June, Uichard Henry Lee iiad moved the famous resolu- 
tion, seconded b}' John Adams, declaring — as it was reported by the 



13 

committee to wliom it had been referred — that these United colo- 
nies are^ and of right ought to be free and independent States, and 
that idl political connection between them and the State of Great 
Britain ?>, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That resolution was 
passed by Congress on the second day of Jul}^, and the Declara- 
tion of Independence which had been previousl}^ reported, was 
adopted and attested by the signatures of the President and Secre- 
tary on the Fourtli. The great majority of the people of the colo- 
nies were ready and ripe fur independence before it was formally de- 
clared, and v»hen that declaration was made by Congress it was 
simply the official announcement of a fact already existing. It is 
quite true that prior to that da}^ the i)eople assembled through their 
representatives in united convention, had not, by an}^ resolution, de- 
clared for independence ; but that was what was meant at Concord, 
Lexington and Bunker Hill; at Quebec, Ticbnderogo and Boston ; 
by the assemblage of the army at New York, at Fort Sullivan, and 
by certain unmistakable hostile proceedings in the colony of Vir- 
ginia. All that was war, and the true and profound meaning of 
those movements was independence. If they stopped short of that, 
it was treason within the meaning of the English law. A profound 
conviction had settled down in tlie public mind that the only rem- 
edy' for existing abuses and oppressions was the severance of all al- 
legiance to a foreign power. When, therefore, the Continental 
Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence it was but the 
august proclamation of a fact that had already flashed from the 
muskets and thunderetl from the cannon of a people resolved to be 
free. 

It, is not necessar}' now to vindicate the justice of that declara- 
tion. The World knows that the colonies exhausted every expedi- 
ent in the way of conciliation and amicable settlement before re- 
sorting to the last remed}^ reserved for an oppressed and outraged 
peoi)le. There was no alternative but war or submission to pro- 
ceedings that violated the beneficial principles of the English con- 
stitution and reduced the peojile of the colonies to the condition of 
slaves. It is not likely that a great country such as this was des- 
tined to be, could remain forever subject to the dominion of a for- 
eign government located be3'ond the ocean. Xo doubt the separa- 
tion would iiave come sooner or later in the nature of things. But 
that British aggressions on the rights and liberties of the people of 



14 • 

these colonies had been carried to such an extent as to abundantly 
justify resistance by revolution and war, is a proposition so clear in 
tlie light of well established historical facts as to admit of no con- 
troversy. I will not stop to repeat the story of their grievances, or 
the conciliatory efforts made for their redress. The dark catalogue 
of offences perpetrated by the English King is recited in the Declara- 
tion of Independence which has been impiessively lead in your hear- 
ing and is fresh in your recollection. That declaration was adopted 
by the C«)ntinental Congress after a careful scrutiny and confidently 
submitted to the candid judgment of mankind. 

Let it not be inferred from anything that has been said that we 
would underestimate the importance of the Declaration of Indeper- 
dence or the courage which inspired it. Aside from the gieat 
trutlis it proclaimed on the subject of human liberty and human 
rights, wdiich would alone render it immortal, it was an act that de- 
manded firmness, resolution, and courage. Unquestionably it was 
revolutionary in its chai'actei', but just and necessary to place the 
colonies in their real and true position before the world, not as con- 
tending for a mere redress of grievances, for that had become ho}K'- 
less, but asserting the right to a separate national existence as in- 
dispensable to their exemption from the continuance of intolerable 
wrongs and essential to the maintenance of public and private lights. 
Sincerity and candor required that the war should not be conducted 
on the basis that, in the event of success, the peoi)le of the colonies, 
reinstated in their rights, were still to remain subjects of Great 
Britain, when, in truth, absolute and total independence was the 
real object in view. This puri)Ose clearly and oflicially announced 
and sustained by the most ample and solid reasons, met the de- 
mands of the popular will and gave new inspiration to the strug- 
gle. Henceforth there was a grander end to be accomplished than 
mere temporary relief from insufferable wrongs. Whatever respon- 
sibilit}^ there was in that act of independence — and it was of the 
gravest description — the members of the Continental Congress de- 
liberately assumed it. The declaration was not sprung upon them 
suddenly and carried in the enthusiasm or amid the huzzas of the 
moment. On the contrary, it was well and cafefully considered, 
and the men who composed that illusti"ious Congress were fully 
conscious of the perils of the situation. At that time Washington 
was at New York with the army, consistinor of seven or eij^ht thous- 



15 

and effective men, tlie one fifth of tliem armed with defective mus- 
kets. An attack was expected from General Plowe who was await- 
ing his reinforcements, and who soon afterwards appeared, followed 
by an army well ])rovided and equipped and numbering nearly 
thirty thousand. The news of the gallanTand successful resistance 
at Fort Moultrie against the British ships of war had not 3^et 
reached the ears of Congress. The strength of tlie enemj^ and their 
own sad deficienc}^ in the means and mnnitions of war might well 
suggest a pause and lead the Congress to consider whether it was 
not ''better to bear the ills we have than fly to others we know not 
of." England was a nation of vast military power, well practiced 
in the arts and discipline of war, with which these young and scat- 
tered colonies would naturally' wish to avoid a contest. Formida- 
ble on the land, she was not less so on the sea. She required the 
erection of no bulwarks for her defence, 

No towers along the steep, 

Her march is o'er the mountain waves 
And her liome is on the deep. 

Never was a war undertaken against a great nation under circum- 
stances seemingly so adverse. Everything was staked on the une- 
qual contest. If the Declaration of Independence could be main- 
tained on the battlefield the safet}' of its authors would be well as- 
sured. But if the cause went down under tlie formidable power ar- 
rayed against it, forfeiture of life and confiscation of propert3^ were 
the expected penalties. The Continental Congress consisted of a 
single body. There was no Senate, no executive to share and di- 
vide the responsibilities of the act. Many of the members who 
composed it had already become conspicuous advocates of indepen- 
dence and all would be rendered prominent by the great act which 
was now ab(.ut to be performed. They would naturally be marked 
and selected as the most proper subjects for punishment in case ot 
defeat. It was no mere rhapsody of words, no idle ceremony, when 
to the support of their high resolve they pledged their Iwes^ their 
fortunes and their sacred honors, to attest that declaration with 
their own signatures where all the world might see them, and with 
a full consciousness of the surrounding perils, required a courage 
no less commanding than that displa3'ed by the soldier in charging 
a batter}^ or a fort. I see some persons around me to-day who 
can appreciate the glor}- and danger of such assaults. 



16 

But while we admire an<l honor the firm iiiul hrave men who put 
their signatures to this instrument, of how little practical benefit 
the declaration, if nothing else had been done ! It was but a single 
step, a single act in tlie drama, an attractive and grand one, it is 
true, but still not a finislTed performance. The remaining battles 
of the revolution were yet to be fought. They were fought and the 
victory won. But if the curtain had dropped there, the world would 
not have been summoned to witness this Centennial triumph. The 
great work of forming a national government that would consti- 
tute us one free people was yet to be performed, without which the 
Declaration of Independence and the sacrifices and battles of the 
revolution would have presented a melancholy and mournful specta- 
cle of human fiiilure and folly. 

There is no part of our infant histor}^ more instructive than tliat 
which records the necessity for the establishment of a national gov- 
ernment, the efforts that were made in that direction, and the 
prejudices and apprehensions that stood in the way. We cannot 
read that history without being profoundly imi)ressed with the con- 
viction that our present system of constitutional government could 
not have been adopted if the wa}^ for it had not been opened and 
prepared by the irresistable logic of events. The countr\' was 
educated and trained for the acceptance of the system throujrh a 
tr^'ing period of thirteen years, constantl}' revealing, by a sad ex- 
j)erience, tiie necessity for mmething in the form of a general gov- 
ernment wlii(;li it did not have. The efforts to form a national 
union were alwa3'S embarrassed hy a strange apprehension and 
jealousy among the colonies. It required five years, from 1770 to 
1781, to procure even tlie adc)ption of tlie articles of confederation, 
weak as they were, althougli during the whole of that i>eriod the 
fate of the country hung tiembling on the doubtful issue of the war. 
The articles of the confederation proved utterly inadequate for the 
purposes of government. The fatal defect of the S3'stem was that 
it oi)erated on the States as sovereignties, instead of eml)racing and 
operating through the medium of the laws on the people who com- 
posed the States. It soon shared the fate to which all similar con- 
federacies have even been doomed since the beginning of the world. 
Under that i)lan Congress was left, practically, at the mercy of the 
States. It might pass measures necessary to sustain and conduct 
the functions of a general government, but it depended on the sov- 



n 

ereign will of thirteen States whether such measures would be car- 
ried into effect within their respective borders. It had no power to 
protect commerce, to discharge the national obligations, maintain 
its owMi laws, or preserve the public pence — we mean that, under the 
articles of confederation, there was p?^flC^2caZ/// no power in Con- 
gress to accomplish these necessary and fundamental ends and 
purposes of government, unless the States, in their sovereign 
capacity, saw fit to join with Congress in the execution of the gen- 
eral laws. The States withdrew their support from Congress and 
the nation was left to drift, helplessl}^, wherever caprice or the 
waves of human passim might carry it. Our commerce was 
prostrated and the public credit almost ruined, and there was no 
national power an3where to relieve the sinking interests of the 
countiy\ A wild and turbulent spiiit had seized large bodies of 
men, and from multipljing causes, springing from the weakness of 
<2;overnment, the vouno- nation was standing- on the verofe of destruc- 
tion. No one was more sensible tiian Washington that some radical 
change in the plan of government was indispensable. He had 
been embarrassed in his militarj' operations by the same want of 
national power that was now threatening with ruin all that had been 
achieved by the revolution. " I do not conceive," he says in a 
letter to John Ja}', " that we can exist long as a nation without 
lodging somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union in 
as energetic a manner as the authority of the State governments 
extends over the several States." His letters of that period abound 
wiih declarations of a similar character and with expressions of 
profound anxiety for the safet}^ of the republic. It would extend 
this address beyond reasonable bonds to specif}^ and recite them ; 
but thev should never be forgotten. In this opinion he was ardent- 
ly joined by those who had served with him in the army and by 
nearly all public men who had taken a conspicuous part in the 
conduct of public affairs, wh.ose local prejudices had been softened 
or removed by the personal associations produced by the war. 

The fear of a union, principally founded on local prejudices 
and rivalries existing among the colonies, is to us, of this genera- 
tion, surprising. The explanation is, in the main, to be found in 
the circumstances of their earh' histor}'. They differed from each 
other in tlie manner of their settlement and in the provisions of their 
respective charters from the Crown, "and so exasperated were the 



18 

people in their disputes with each other concerning boundaries and 
charter claims, that Doctor Franklin observed in the year 1700, that 
a union of the Colonies against the mother countr}'^ was absolutely 
impossible, or at least without being forced by the most grevious 
t3'ranny and oppression." That t}'^ ran ny and oppression came, and a 
union, or rather an alliance, followed. But it is one thing to form 
an alliance to meet a common danger, to repel the assaults of the 
savage, with his tomahawk and scalping knife, or to resist British 
aggressions ; it was quite a different thing to form a union after 
the danger was past, under a national o;overnment that could pro- 
tect the States from hostilities and wars, one with another, and 
prevent them from becoming the mere sport of foreign powers. 
Better that the battles of the revolution had never been fouGrht and 
the grand truths of the Declaration of Independence never uttered, 
than that the cause of free popular government should come to a 
sudden and disgraceful termination. At this great crisis in our 
history, when everything valuable and precious was in danger, 
Washington was at Mount Yernon watching with extreme mortifi- 
cation and alarm the drift of events. At the close of the war he 
had returned his commission as Commander-in-Chief to the Con- 
gress at Annapolis, and retired to his beautiful home on the Poto- 
mac. No man rejoiced more than he that the darkness and tempest 
of the revolution had passed away and the star of peace returned. 
He had served his country without compensation, claiming only the 
reimbursements of his expenses ; and now that the long and wear}" 
conflict was over, his heart 3'earned for the quiet scenes of home 
where he expected to spend the remainder of his life in peace, and 
where he was followed by the blessings and tears of a nation. 
During the few years of his retirement, events had occurred of such 
startling significance to the country as forced him again into i)ublic 
service to assist tlie eminent patriots and statesmen of that day in 
laying the foundations of the present government. lie was made the 
President of that illustrious convention of delegates from the States 
that sat with closed doors in the cit}' of Philadelphia, and, as a 
result of their labors, gave us the Constitution of the United States, 
and thereb}' saved the country from impending degradation and 
ruin. This was the crowning glor^' of that series of events we 
commemorate to-day. Peace has her victories no less renowned 
than war. But there are no lessons so durable as those that are 



19 

taught in the school of adversity. There is no wisJom equal to the 
wisdom of experience. Our system of government is not the off- 
spring of mere philosophical speculation, not an embodiment of the 
dream of some scholar, who, in the graceful leisure of his stud}^ has 
pictured in his mind the image of a perfect republic. The men who 
framed it were indeed familiar with all the history of the past, and 
not unmindful of the lessons it tauglit. But something more was 
necessary than familiarity with past examples, and that knowledge 
was obtained in the severe discipline and trials induced by our own 
defective experiments. 

We have paid dearl3' for this inestimable boon of free popular 
government — w^e could get it on no other terms. Other nations 
have had their battles for freedom before us; some have had theirs 
since ; none has been so fortunate as ours. If there be any other 
nations destined to enjo}^, the privileges of a similar government, 
they must imitate our example and fight for them. They are not 
likely to obtain them by patient waiting and wishing. Despotic or 
hereditary power is seldom resigned voluntarily. It would seem to 
be a strange, sad truth, fully exemplified in the pages of history, 
that there is no redemption for nations in this world, as there is 
none for individuals in the next, except through the shedding of 
blood. Look at England ! English writers love to boast of the 
omnipotence of Parliament, and the beauty and perfection of the 
British Constitution. There is something in that Constitution to 
admire. There is something also to condemn. There is much that 
the American mind could never tolerate. We have taken out of it 
what we considered good and valuable and placed it in our own 
fundamental law ; we rejected the balance. But even that measure 
of self-government and of freedom to the J^erson and protection to 
private propert3^ to be found in the British Constitution, how was 
it obtained ? Through years of bloodshed, until at last the bold 
bravoes of Runny mede, clad in arms and stern with conquest, 
wrestled the great charter from the hands of an unwilling King; 
and it required j^ears of further bloodshed to retain what they won. 
The lesson taught in history seems to be that there is no liberty for 
mankind, no great achievement on behalf of human rights, except 
through the agency of the sword. Our own liberty was not ob- 
tained without a sacrifice. It was born in the storms of revolution 
and has been subjected to one fearful trial by battle before the 



20 

century closed. History will record how this last great exigency 
was met. The record will furnish an exhibition of unsurpassed 
devotion to freedom and to the maintenance that unit}" of govern- 
ment which constitutes us one people. What will be said of that 
stupendous crisis in our national life at the next Centennial of 
American independence by the multiplied millions who will then 
inhabit this land? They will dwell on the scenes of that moment- 
ous struggle as we do to-day on the scenes of the revolution, and 
with the same pathetic interest. They will follow the fortunes of 
the flag as it passed through the shadow of that great eclipse, and 
rejoice, with us, ^vilen it emerged at last from the darkness into the 
liorht with all the stars still blazino^ from the field of blue. Thev 
will comprehend the vast issues at stake. They will appreciate, as 
we did, the lesson so often urged b}' Washington, that liberty and 
union under this S3'stem of constitutional government of ours arc 
one and the same thing; that dismemberment opens up scenes of 
danger and chaos and darkness that we could not contemplate mid 
live and die happ3\ And they will feel and know, as we did, that 
their safet}', and happiness, and political equality as individuals 
and States, and their glor}- and power as a nation, depend oh \)n'- 
serving, in its unity, that legac}^ of free government bequeathed to 
them by the ftithers of the republic and saved and redeemed by 
the blood of their sons. 

The influence of a great exnmijle is never lost. If a crisis shall 
come upon the genei'ations who sludl succeed us they will draw 
inspiration and courage from the contemplation of the past. We 
know full well that we cannot forcast the futiire or indulge with 
certaintity in the language of i)rophesy. l>ut the ni( ii who lived 
one hundred years ago llfid unswerving faith in the jjeipetuity of 
the principles they i)roclaimed, and predicted that the benefits of 
their labors would endure for all time to come. iSIay we not claim 
the same i)rivileges since we live under circumstances still more 
auspicious and with a Constitution now purified from the onl^' sin 
that once stained its beaut}"^ and weakened its [)Ower ? At the next 
Centennial of American independence you and 1, and probably 
every one within the sound of my voice, will be in our giaves. 
Our record, whatever else it may be, will have been finished. 
Human life is circumscribed and necessaiily brief. Not so with tiie 
republic. It may endure " 'til the last sylable of reeoided time." 



21 

A government that would deliberately put a period to its own ex- 
istence, or fix a time when it should be broken up and dissolved, 
would be guilty of suicide. Ours has been formed, not for any 
fixed or definite period, but for all time. The Constitution of the 
United States is not unchangeable. The men who framed it wisely 
provided for its amendment by peaceful methods. If experience 
should indicate that there is a solitary provision in it that is wrong, 
impolitic, unjust or not supported by the moral sense of the people, 
it may be stricken out and a new one substituted to meet the ex- 
igency by legal and peaceful proceedings. If there be something 
wi'ong in the practical administration of national affairs that cannot 
be reached by constitutiohal amendments, the instincts of the peo- 
ple are right, and they will correct any abuse so soon as they see it. 
It is their own Constitution and government, and they will correct 
any fault in their own way. If the system of government estab- 
lished here will not stand the tests of time, it is not in the power of 
finite wisdom to designate the place that will. We can safel}"" trust 
something to the objections of the people. These free institutions 
are all tlie more dear to us because of the perils the}' have encount- 
ered and survived. The attacliment and devotion of the people to 
them, instead of dirainisliing, have grown with our growth and 
strengthened with our strength. To defend them is now an in- 
stinct of our nature — the same that impels an individual to defend 
himself or his child against a murderous assault. If a foreign or 
domestic foe should stand up, armed, and come marching forward 
to assail them or to destroy the supremacy of the flag, and all that 
it symbolizes, what would be the answer to-day ? Millions of 
swords would leap from their scabbord sand flash in the sunlight, 
eager and determined to punish the insolence of the invaders. 
With this love in the hearts of the people, fresher and stronger than 
ever before, and with the profound conviction of the general excel- 
lence of our institutions, illustrated in the experience of the century 
now closing, let us hope and believe and feel fully persuaded that 
the same spectacle of joy and patriotic devotion to free popular 
government under the Constitution of the United States witnessed 
in this country to-day, will be reproduced at each coming Centen- 
nial of American independence until the end of time. 

Fellow-citizens, I have detained you too long. I thank you for 
3"0ur patient attention. 



APPENDIX. 



PRAYEPx BY REV. J. CURNS. 

D'hO • 

Oh ! Thou, Great Eternal, Immortal, •Ii)visilil«, Almiglity God, Tliou artTliy- 
pnlf alone absolutely perfect in Tliy character and works. Heaven is Thy throne, 
the earth is Thy footstool. Thon art the Creator ol all things, the Redeemer 
and Judge of all men. Thou art impartial toward all creatures. Thou sendest 
rain on the just and on the unjust. Tliou art our Sove reign Lord, our houn- 
tiful Benefactor, our Heavenly Father. In celebrating the One Hundreth Anni- 
versary of our National Independence, in common with millions of our fellow 
citizens, elsewhere assembled, we gather ourselves together here, on this glad 
festive day, to present before Thee our offerings of praise and thanksgiving for 
the innumerable blessings which we, as a people, liave received from Tliy hands ; 
to humble ourselves before Thee, confessing our sius, and to pray that the 
Divine favor may be extended to us in the future, as ii has been in the past. 
We thank Thee for the " goodly heritage " which Tliou hast given us in this 
gieat country, which we gladly call our own; for its vast domain; for its 
extensive sea-board and broad lakes, studded with tliriving towns and cities, 
and dotted with the peaceful sails of commerce ; for its mighty rivers with their 
innumerable tributaries springing from every hillside, watering every valley, 
and turning ten thousand wheels of industry'. We thank Thee for its lofty 
mountains and luxuriant forests; for its rich plains, prairies and valleys, 
responsive to the hand of the husbandman, now covered with golden wheat and 
growing corn and abundant fruitage; tor its untold and varied deposits of 
mineral wealth ; for its clement skies and variet3' of c'imate ; for its natural 
curiosities and endless diversity of resources sufficient for the maintenance of a 
grand, free and happy Republic. We thank Thee for the great men of the 
Colonial and Revolutionary period of our history, for tlie signers of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, for the immortal Washington and his compeers in 
council and compatriots in arms for our fathers who fought, and our mothers 
who suffered and prayed that we might be free. We thank Thee for our repub- 
lican form of government, our impartial constitutions, our wholesome laws, 
guaranteeing to all our people, without regard to place of birth, '' color or^pre- 
vious condition," all the rights and immunities of American citizenship. We 
thank Thee for our wonderful material development and progress ; for onr 
institutions of art, and science, and literature, especially for our common 
sdiools, where every child of suflicient age and capacity in the l;ind may lay 
the foundations of a useful education. Aliove all, we thank Thee for our holy 
religion, embracing the precepts of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount, 
and beautifully illustrated in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, for our churches and 
Sunday-schools, and family altars ; for religion, not as a dead, lifeless form, 
but as a spiritual power, permeating our laws, inlluencing the thought of our 
people, blessing our homes and constituting the great bulwark of our national 
liberties. We thank Thee that we are at peace with all the world, an^ that we 



23 

and our mother country have been able to show to the world that Cnrislian 
nations can adjust difficulties between them by peaceful arbitration without 
resort to arms. We thank Thee for the death of slavery in our country, and th e 
elevation of people of color to the privileges of citizenship, and for the new and 
better life of the Republic. We thank Thee that we are permitted to invite all 
nations to come and participate in the great International Exposition, now on 
exhibition in the chief city of our Commonwealth, commorative of our Centen- 
nial jubilee. We thank Thee as a community and as individuals for the peace 
and prosperity of our city, the quiet of our homes, and the health and happi- 
ness of our families. For these, and all other unnumbered and unmerited 
blessings, be pleased to accept our thanksgiving and praise. 

And now, 0, Lord, would we remember our sins, and bowing our uncovered 
heads, confess them before Thee. We have been proud and self-boastful ; we 
ihave been luxurious and self-indulgent ; we have trampled upon Thy mercies, 
abused Thy clemency and violated Thy laws ; we have lived beneath our re- 
ligious privileges and neglected our duvies. 0, Lord, for the sake of Thine 
Annointed, forgive all our transgressions, blot out all our iniquities, and re- 
member our sins against us no more forever. And do Thou be pleased, 0, Fath- 
er, to bless us ; bless our great country ; prevent it from foreign wars, and 
internecine strife ; keep from her fruitful fields drought and blight, and from her 
cities pestilence and famine, but smile upon her with healthful climate and 
abuKdaut harvests, and for centuries to come ^ 

" Still may her flowers untrammeled spring, 
Her harvests wave, her cities rise, 
And on till Time shall fold his wing. 
Remain earth's loveliest paradise." 

Bless Thy servant the President of the United States and his cabinet, the 
Congress, tlie Judges of the Supreme Court, the army and the navy. Bless the 
Governors, the Legislatures and Judiciaries of the different States and Terri- 
tories. B.ess all our people, from the least to the greatest, and still more firmly 
unite us in the bonds of religious intelligence and liberty. Bless all the 
nations of the world, and especially those now represented in our great Inter- 
national Exposition^ and as their flags wave peacefully from the domes of our 
Centennial buildings, kissing the breezes of this bright and glorious day, and 
enfolding each other in fraternal embrace, so may all the countries of the world, 
be united in one grand international brotherhood, and Jesus Christ our Saviour 
reign over all, " King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Help us as a nation to act 
well our part in the accomplishment of this glorious result. Bless our celebra- 
tion to-day. May nothing transpire to mar the pleasures of this great occasion. 
Bless all who in any way participate in its exercises, and whether it be through 
the reading of the Declaration of Independence, or the oration that shall be 
delivered, or song or instrumental music, may our thoughts be elevated, our 
gratitude deepened and our patriotism Inspired. And to Thy Great Name will 
we ascribe present and eternal glory. Amen. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DAY. 

04*® 

The Centennial anniversary of American Independence was^ appropriately 
celebrated throughout the Uuion, and few places outside of the metropolitan 
cities excelled Altoona in commemorating the grand event. The preparations 
had heen in progress for many days, and almost everybody, rich and poor, ex- 
hausted themselves in elibrts to make the day memorable. The event was a 
grand one, and all were inspired with the feeling that its celebration should 
surpass all other demonstrations ever held in this city, and right well was that 
impulse carried out. The demand for decorations was «o great that notwith- 
standing dealers had taken every precaution to meet it, there was not a flag to 
be purchased anywhere in the city by Monday noon. Still there was an im- 
mense quantity of flags and bunting sold, and gradually the city became redder 
and brighter. Not one flag or two flags were deemed sufficient by the enthusi- 
astic populace ; they were carried away by the half dozen and dozen, by hundreds 
and by the armful — flags big and little — cheap and costly — each patriot pur- 
chasing according to his means and the wants of his premises. The red, white 
and blue predominated, though here and there the green, black and yellow ot 
other nations were harmoniously inteitwined with the star spangled banner. 
The white elephant of Siam enchanted the small boy, and the sacred beast occu- 
pied a large share of his zoological mind, and that standard filled him witli an 
much enthusiasm as the " gorgeous ensign of the Republic" did the boys of 
larger growth. It seemed as if the "heavens had opened and shed upon the 
city a glorious shower of flags, that falling had caught and twisted upon every 
projecting beam and eave. Gusts of wind seemed to have dritted them thick 
and fast, leaving in other places bare spots as the snow is drifted. Some had 
twined in their fall around the peaks of high houses ; others blown like autumn 
leaves were flattened against the sides of the buildings." Everywhere the 
shower had descended, and magnificent indeed was the face of the city. In the 
morning came a jolly, rollicking breeze that set all this expanse of color in 
motion, and kept it waving until the storm, which set in at three p. m., caused 
it to droop and hang listlessly and dripping. Many of the decorations were 
ruined with the water, which greatly destroyed the eft'ect of the scene in the 
evening. But soon a stout breeze sprung up, and the red, white and blue wings 
gradually unfolded and soared grantily in the Centennial atmospliere. Tlie 
surrounding forests were laid under contribution, and load after load of spruce, 
pine, laurel, fern, etc., was borne to the city to add splendor to the scene, iu 
arches, wreaths, drapery, in short, every species of d'.'coration into which it 
could be twined and utilized. Chinese lanterns iu gayest colors and varied 
shapes and sizes hung in profusion from wreaths, arches, pon-hes, and every 
imaginable projection. With these tlie rain played sad havoc where it was 
impossible to remove them, but thousands were left to add lustre to the scene 
at night. Portraits of Washington and pii-tures of other incidents bearing upon 
the birth of the republic and revolutionary struggle were scattered over the city, 
neatly encased in wreaths of spruce, laurel or whatever pleased the patriotic 
impulse of the decorator. Strangers and visitors applauded the work and genius 
of our citizens dnclaring they had never seen anything to equal it outside of the 
great cities. The double arches at the intersection of Ninth street and Eleventh 
avenue ; and Eighth avenue and Twelfth and Thirteenth streets ; at Thirteenth 
avenue and Twelfth street : at Eleventh avenue Twelfth, Thirteenth and Four- 
teenth streets ; and at Chestnut avenue and Tenth street were very beautiful in 



25 

their various adoninieiits, and added vastly to the appearance of things. Elev- 
enth avenue, from Eleventh street to Sixteenth, with its numerous arches and 
wilderness of flags piesented a grand sight. Every thoiongfare had its decora- 
tions, more or less extensive, and in whatever wa\ the residents thereon chose 
to manifest their appreciation of the importance of the day, it was simply cred- 
itable and commendable in the highest degree. At sunrise salvos of artillery 
and the clangor of l)ells, creating a noise and tumult over which only a deaf man 
could be happy, aroused tlje partially slumbering city. It was the signal for 
the opening ot the festivities which were to crown the day's jubilation. About 
half-past seven o'clock the deserted streets began to wear a lively appeal ancp, 
and soon were crowded with an expectant, joyful and sweltering multitude. 
Notwithstanding the sultry atmosphere, and the intensity of the sun's i ays, 
men, women- and children crowded not only the sidewalks but even into the 
avenue on which the procession was to form, so eager were they to witness acd 
participate in the general rejoicing. The extra police had all ihey could do to 
keep the people off the avenue and prevent accidents from prancing steeds and 
passing vehicles. About nine o'clock the various civic and miliiary associations, 
tradesmen, etc., began to file on to Eleventh avenue, and take their position in 
tVe line of parade lorming on the east side of the avenue, it was near ten 
o'clock, however, before the procession was ready to move, when it proceeded 
eastward on the avenue as far as the Opera House, where it countermarched and 
proceeded on the route laid down for the parade in the following order : Chief 
Marshal, Wm. J. Denning. Aids — Louis Walton and Charles Pimlot. Moun- 
tain 'Mty Band. Carriages, containing His Honor Mayor Gilland, Rev. James 
Curns, Judge Blair and city officers. Council, etc., etc. 

First Division — Military. —Marshal, M^j. R. J. Crozier ; Assistants, John 
Frazier and' Thos. Miller. The Latta Guard with its fine drum corps, headed 
this division, tollowed by the Keystone Battery. Then came a wagon hand- 
somely decorated, containing thirteen young ladies representing the original 
(■olonies, with Goddess of Liberty. This was followed by another wagon, also 
very tastily arranged and ornamented, with thirty-seven young ladies represent- 
ing the nu-mber of States in ihe Union. 

Second Division — Firemen. — Marshal, B. F. Rose ; Assistants, La Baron 
Reifsnyder and Adam Moss. This division was one of the most prominent in 
line, and was headed by the Board of Directots of the Fiie Department, followed 
by the Good Will Steam Fire Engine Cc-mpany, No. 1, numbering twenty men. 
Their steamer, in fine condition, was drawn by four bay horses. Then came the 
Excelsior (colored) band. The Empire Hook and Ladder Company, numbering 
thirty-three men, had their truck splendidly arranged, in the centre of which 
was a pedestal, luxuriously upholstered, in which were seated Master Guy Laub 
and Mi^s Blanche Pancake as miniature representatives of George and Martha 
Washington. The Tyrone Steam Fire Company No. 1, with forty-three men 
followed the Empire boys, and with their apparatus drawn by ten gray horses, 
made a very creditable display, and Tyrone people have reason to be proud of 
them. The Vigilant Steam Fire Engine Company No. 2, with steamer drawn by 
four horses, large hose carriage drawn by two horses, and small hose carriage 
drawn by thirty-four members of the company. Master Willie Wolfkill person- 
ated Washington in the ranks of the "Vigieboys." This company deserves 
great praise for the interest it took in rendering the demonstration a success, 
and for its own creditable display both in the ranks and about its engine house. 
Then came safety wagon containing four gentlemen wearing the old style fire 
equipments of 1786. These were followed by the Excelsior Ho?e Company No. 
3, with twenty men pulling light carriage, gaily decorated, and large carriage 
drawn by two horses. Then the Altoona City Band, discoursing some excellent 
music. The corps of musicians made a handsome appearance in their new 
uniforms. But the Altoona (P. R. R.) Steam Fire Engine Company made the 
largest display. It has the numbers to do this, and with so much help and 



26 

mfanp, it is not to be wondered that they are capable of doing great tilings on 
great occasions. First came their steamer, glittering and glaring in the sun- 
siiine, drawn by four horses, followed by the carriage drawn by ninety-six men, 
four abreast, each bearing the national emblem. On the hose carriage was 
erected a handsome and gaily-caparisoned pedestal in which was seated Master 
An<ly Kipple and Miss Alice Hurley, representing in minature a sailor and his 
wife. Following the hose carriage was the company's tender drawn by one 
hundred and thirty boys, dressed in white shirts and caps, and red and white 
belts. These marched four abreast, each bearing aloft the stars and stripes. 
The display made by our own riremen and the visiting company was one such 
as every citizen had reason to feel proud over. The representation of George 
and Martha Washington, though in miniature, was complete in the costume of 
the beginning of the century and in physical resemblance as near as art cotild 
render them. 

TiiiKD Division — Civic Societies. ---Marshal, George L. Freet ; Assistants, 
William Guyer and M. McC<>y. This division was led by the German Band, fol- 
lowed by the Frohsinn Society, marshaled by Mr. C. J. Stahl. Then came the 
following lodges of Odd Feliov^s : Hollidaysburg, No. 119 ; Claysburg, No. 713; 
Altoona, No. 473 and Mountain City, No. 837. Also, the Brotherhood of the 
Union and the American Mechanics. Thtse were all in full regalia, and pre- 
sented a showy appearance. 

FoL'RTH Division — Tradesmen, Etc. — Marshal, Edmund Mountney ; Assist- 
ants, Thos. M. Goodfellow and William May. Tiiis division was, owing to its 
character, much the largest and attracted more than ordinary interest and 
attention. It was mainly made up of representations Irom the various depart- 
ments of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's shops in this city, mounted on 
wagons plying their respective v<. cations. It was led by the boiler makers, wlio 
made the air resonant with the noise incident in the manufacture of a boiler 
upon which they were working. This division had no musical corps assigned 
it, the music which it imparted as it moved along the route of procession, len- 
dering any sucdi assignment superJiuous. Next in order was the lathe shop, 
with machine in operation, followed by tlie tin shop with men at work. Here 
followed the wagon belonging to D. Orr Alexander's Music Store, handsomely 
decorated, on which was placed an organ, operated by a gentleman connected 
wi\h the establishment ; but amid the roar and din of the surrounding trades 
its tones were drowned. In the rear end of the wagcm were seated two littln 
girls personating respectively the Goddess of Liberty and Columbia. After this 
came a representation of the P. R. R. blacksmith shop, with all the necesssry 
implements, and men working upon red-hot iron, converting it into bolts, and 
other articles belonging to this craft. Then followed the passenger car builders 
at work on the body of a miniature passenger coach, while the freight car build- 
ers gave to the patriotic and pers})iring spectators a specimen of their handiwoik 
in the shape of a gondola car body. At this point in the division the other 
trades broke in, and the Lingafelter Bros, gave us a specimen of how they put 
things through their large cotfee mill, while Chas. Hiie exhibited to tlie uniniti- 
ated how the Teuton's national beverage is manufactured, by performing the 
Several processes necessary to the same. His wagon was also liecorated with all 
of a brewer's paraphernalia. Mr. G. Ca^sanaye also exposed specimens of his 
workshop, such as harness, liridles, saddles, etc.. and Mr. Peter Vettei- thought 
that while there was so ucuch to represent the outer comf(»rts and conveniences 
of the human family, he would display tiie " one thing needful " to sustain man 
in his efforts to produce these valuable adjuncts of a higher civilization in the 
shape of persons making bread, and scattering gingersnaps at intervals along 
the avenues. George W. Yeager had his wa^on adorned with tinware, Hags, 
etc., and also men at work upon articles entering into his business. Mr. Harry 
Slep, of the Evening Mirkok, had a Crordon jobber at work turning out copies of 
the Declaration of Independence, which were scattered promiscuously among 



27 

the crowd as the procession moved along. Mrs. Charles Taylor's ice creamery 
brought up the rear, and consisted in an ornamented wagon, in which was a 
table, seated around which were several young ladies indulging in ice cream and 
cake. Here followed a further representation of the railroad company's indus- 
tries, led by the trimming department with men at work finishing cushions and 
backs for car seats. Then the carpenter shop and the cabinet shop, in each of 
which men were at work on various pieces of furniture entering into their de- 
partments. All their vehicles were tastefully ornamented with flags and other 
devices calculated to add to the imposing nature of the display. Mr. William 
H. Dnrborrow followed this with a very characteristic and beautiful display of 
articles pertaining to the gas fitting and plumbing business. His wagon was 
very tastily adorned with flags, fountains, gas, steam and plumbing fixtures. By 
an ingenious contrivance his fountains were operated as he passed along the 
streets and avenues, and attracted universal attention. The farmer, too, was 
represented in the precession. A four horse team, with wagon and long hay 
ladders, in which, either seated on the board at the bottom of the ladders or 
leaning against them, were men armed with pitch-forks The outfit had all the 
appearance of proceeding to the field for a load of hay, and was a gentle reminder 
that the harvest was at hand. Miss Pauline GraflF symbolized the Goddess of 
Liberty in the wagon containing the young ladies representing the thirteen 
States. This with citizens in carriages and on foot completed the procession 
which moved over a lengthy route to a field belonging to the P. R. R. company, 
located in the eastern suburbs of the city. In this field had been erected a 
grand stand for the use of the speaker and for other purposes. On reaching the 
stand, His Honor Mayor Gilland was elected to preside, who, having called the 
immense assembly to order, delivered a brief and fitting address on assuming the 
chair. The following Vice Presidents were elected : D. K. Ramey, John Brown, 
Jacob Renner,^VV. M^ Bell, J. T. Christy, E. M. Jones, F. J. McClain, A. Max- 
well, C. Hauser, John Storm and Burgess McLanahan, of Tyrone. Secretaries — 
Jaraes H. Dysart, Wm. Stoke, H. L. Delo, Wm. Murray, H. N. Hederson, Mat- 
thew Dunn, H. Fettinger, Sr. Upon the completion of the organization the 
Altoona Baud rendered in elegant style "Hail Columbia." This was followed 
by the choir, organized for the occasion, under the leadership of Mr. T. W. Cole 
and Mr. H. L. Delo, organist, singing VVhittier's Centennial Hymn. This choir 
was composed of twenty-eight females and twenty-eight male voices. The Rev. 
James Curns, pastor of the First M. E. Church, then off"ered up an impressive 
and comprehensive prayer which appears in full in this pamphlet. The choir 
then rendered *' Hail our Country's Natal Morn," after which Geo. .]. Akers, 
Esq., local editor of the Mirror, read the D* claration of Independence, in a clear 
and forcible manner. The choir then ?ung " My Country 'tis of Thee." Mayor 
Gilland introduced Judge John P. Blair, of Indiana county, as the orator of the 
dav. His address is the main feature of this book and will be read with interest. 
After the conclusion of the address, the Altoona City Band performed the en- 
gagement and rendered that popular air in fine style. The choir and audience 
sang "Old Hundred," with the long metre doxology, after which Rev, James 
Curns pronounced the benediction, and the vast assemblage dispersed. At 
three o'clock p. m. a severe rain and thunder storm set in, which drove every- 
body to seek shelter in-doors. While it had the eflect of cooling off the burning 
atmosphere, it sadly demoralized many of the decorations, particularly the 
Chinese lant< rns hung up for ornamentation during the day and illumination 
by night. When the storm had passed away, the streets assumed their wonted 
liveliness, and were filled to a late hour with a joyous and happy crowd. Many 
places throughout the city were handsomely illuminated with candles, gas and 
lanterns. Particulary worthy of notice were the gas-fitting and plumbing 
establishment of Messrs. Durborrow, Molloy and Stewart. The front of their 
respective houses were ornamented with a blazing star, surrounded by jets 
covered with red, white and blue globes, alternated. The twelve jets in front 



28 

of ihe Opera House ornamented alternately with red, white and b'ue globes, and 
added largely to the scene on that portion of Eleventh avenue, so elaborately 
decoi-ated with arches, wreathes, liases, et(i. But by tar tne most coniniandiug 
spectacle during the evening was that of St. John's Convent.' Its eligible posi- 
tion, with its many and large windows all illuminated, excited the praise of 
every beholder. From foundation to roof, the convent was one pile of dazzling, 
brilliant splendor — a palace on lire within. The fire-works purchased by the 
ways and means committee did not reach the city in time to be used on the 
evening of the Fourth. However, the omission was well supplied by private 
parties and at several points in the city couhl be seen rockets traversing the 
sky and discharging their showers (f red, white and blue stars. From the 
Vigilant tower rocket?, Roman candles and other illuminating and spectral 
devices Were set otf, as well as from the residence of General Superintendent 
Gardner, and at Alexander's music store, and Frank Molloy's place of business, 
on Eleventh avenue, and Messrs. Pitcairn, Fries and Fatton's, on Fourteenth 
avenue. Geo. A. Patton's large ball on Twelfth street, made of the national 
emblem, was the centre of large attraction. S. I. Fries had thirteen red, white 
and blue bells in front of his hardware store, on Eleventh avenue, "with their 
everlasting clack, set all men's ears upon the rack." Postmaster Stewart stirred 
the patriotic emotions of the residents on Fourteenth avenue, by executing the 
"Star Spangled Banner," •' Hail Columbia," and other popular airs on the ear- 
piercing file. 



CORR ESPONDENCE. 



Altoona, Pa., July 14, 1876. 

Hon. John P. Blair, Indiana^ Pa. 

Dear Sir: — In accordance 
with the instructions of the following resolution, passed at a late 
meeting of the Altoona Ways and Means Committee for the Cele- 
bration of the One Hundredth Anniversary' of American Inde- 
pendence, we liave the honor to request a copy of your speech for 
publication. 

Uespectfuliy, etc., 

H. Row, 

Henry Fettinger, 

B. F. Rose, 

Committee. 
"i?6'8o/ii^rf, That a committee of three be and are hereby appointed 
to tender the sincere thanks of this organization, as well as of the 
commui^ity at large, to the Hon. John P. Blair for the able and 
patriotic address, delivered at our Centennial Celebration, Jul}^ 4, 
1816, and to respectfully request a copy of the same for publication 
in pamphlet form." 

[^Extract from Minutes.'] 

F. P. Tierney, President. 
Attest: — W. J. Denning, Secretary. 



Messrs. H. Row, H. Fettinger and B. F. Rose, Committee. 
Gentlemen : — I have hesitated in replying to your request, as my 
address was not written in full or with any view of publication ; but 
inasmuch as you desire to preserve it in a permanent form as part 
of the historical proceedings of the occasion, I shall not stand in 
the way of your wishes, and herewith transmit the manuscript. 

Respectfully, yours, 

John P. Blair. 
Indiana, Pa., August 7, 1876. 



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